Netherlands scores two late goals to send Mexico home
Netherlands scored two goals in the dying minutes through Wesley Sneijder and a Klaas Jan Huntelaar penalty to pull off a remarkable 2-1 victory over Mexico in their last 16 match on Monday morning (June 30).
In a match that was played in the heat and humidity of Fortaleza, Giovani dos Santos looked to have Mexico on the way to their first quarter-final appearance on foreign soil when he struck a brilliant shot to open the scoring three minutes into the second-half.
Wesley Sneijder, however, broke Mexicans' hearts when he levelled the score with a thunderous volley two minutes from the final whistle
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Huntelaar then completed the misery for the Mexican when he converted a penalty that was given after Mexico's captain Rafael Marquez was harshly adjudged to have brought down Arjen Robben in the area.
Was this a penalty?
Mexico's coach, Miguel Herrera was livid after the match, blasting the referee for awarding the penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
“The determining factor was the man with the whistle. He put us out of the World Cup,” he said.
“Although the first goal was down to our mistake, we had the chance to reconsider during the break before extra time, but at the end when the referee invents a penalty you go out of the World Cup.
“At the very least they can look at this and this referee ought to be going home like us.”
Netherlands moves on to the quarter-finals to face Costa Rica on July 6.
Source: AFP
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